Educator of Blind Students Award

Educator of Blind Students Award

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention 2016 AWARDS
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Educator of Blind Students Award
Presented by Carla McQuillan
Carla McQuillan: In our efforts to ensure the success of our blind children through their lives with Braille literacy and the skills of independence, the National Federation of the Blind recognizes teachers who are leaders in the field of education of blind students. This award recognizes and honors the best of the best.
I'd like first to thank the members of the committee. We had Laura Bostick, Michelle Chacon, Dan Wenzel, and Mary Willows. We had many highly qualified applicants, but one stood out above the rest. This year's Distinguished Educator of Blind Students has spent thirty-nine years in the field of education of the blind. She received her certificate as a teacher of blind students from Florida State University, her bachelor of science from Louisiana State University, and a degree in low vision therapy from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. She began her career in 1977, working with preschool students who are blind. Throughout her thirty-nine years she has worked with children from birth through high school in many different settings: in home settings as an itinerant and in the classroom; now she serves as an educational consultant for the Louisiana Center for the Blind.
Pam Allen says that this teacher is passionate about Braille literacy; Eric Guillory, who as a child was a student of this distinguished educator, remembers that she said that her students needed skills, not sympathy. He also says that she is a full-blown parrothead Jimmy Buffet fan. And, while this was not one of the criteria for our decision, it doesn't get much better than a cheeseburger in paradise.
To put it in her own words, [in a Southern accent], "I can stand my ground with those professionals who say that this student doesn't need Braille because he is keepin' up just beautifully with his sighted peers. Well, as you might guess, of course he is in kindergarten. I've had to battle with administrators, teachers, and even parents, but I always advocate for the children."
I have with me a check for one thousand dollars. I also have with me a plaque that reads:
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND HONORS
JANET BERNHARDT
DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR OF BLIND STUDENTS
FOR YOUR SKILLS IN TEACHING BRAILLE AND OTHER ALTERNATIVE TECHNIQUES OF BLINDNESS,
FOR GRACIOUSLY DEVOTING EXTRA TIME TO MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR STUDENTS,
AND FOR EMPOWERING YOUR STUDENTS TO PERFORM BEYOND THEIR EXPECTATIONS.
YOU CHAMPION OUR MOVEMENT. YOU STRENGTHEN OUR HOPES. YOU SHARE OUR DREAMS.
JULY 2, 2016
At the annual board meeting of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, Janet Bernhardt was invited to speak about her philosophy of teaching. She gave the following address.
When I started teaching, I never intended to work this long. I intended to work until I got married and had babies. Now, I knew all about Gloria [Steinem] and her bra-burning friends, and I liked them! I still like Gloria! But I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and have lots of babies.
I became a teacher before I became a mom. Something wonderful happened! I fell in love with my students--your kids. They became my kids, too. I was an old mother hen in my twenties, and you better not ruffle my feathers, because I would fight for my little chicks. When a science teacher would tell me that my students couldn't be in their class because they didn't know how to teach blind kids, I'd say, in my nicest way, "You don't have to know how to teach blind kids. That's my job. All you have to do is teach science."
I worked for directors of special education who believed that I knew what I was doing. Imagine that! I was a brand-new teacher, and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I knew the Braille code backward and forward, but not one person taught me how to teach Braille or how to work with a blind child. I thought it was all very simple, though. I just went to the other classroom teachers and found out what they were teaching, and I made sure my students could do the same things in Braille. It worked.
Today we teach to the test, and I am sick to death of teachers teaching to the test! They don't have the opportunity to experience the joy of teaching as I did. I was able to plant, grow, and harvest a garden with my students. We would make invitations from the lavender and invite the moms to a Mother's Day luncheon. We would cook in an electric skillet, make table arrangements from the flowers, and set a table properly.
We were able to hatch chicks in the classroom. Heck, one day we did the entire life cycle of a chicken! We hatched them, we loved them, we killed them, we buried them. We didn't mean to kill the chicks, but I had a kindergarten student who loved them so much that he wrapped them very tightly in a towel before we went to lunch. When we came back and didn't hear the little cheeps, we knew something was wrong. Since I like to teach that all life is precious, we had to bury them. I mean, you can't just flush a chick like you can a goldfish. So we found the janitor and borrowed a shovel, dug a hole, and buried the little chicks. We all went around a circle and said something sweet about them, and I said a prayer.
I was able to teach about chicks being hatched. The children could hold the egg in their hands and feel the chick peck out of the shell. They could hold the egg to their ear and hear the little cheeps. They could feel the wet feathers when the chick hatched out, and then they could feel the soft down of the baby chick after it dried. Today, teachers read a story about a chick and maybe show the children a raised-line drawing of a chick, but you can't tell me it's the same thing! Our students need to experience things in the world, not just read about them.
One day I read an article about Blind Outdoor Leisure Development and a group of skiers in Aspen, Colorado. The more I tried to answer the kids' questions about skiing, the more confused they became. Remember, this was in Louisiana, and we don't get snow there. I wasn't able to describe the feeling of snow or how to make snow angels or how to snow plow. One student asked how you got down from a mountain and another answered, "You use a ladder, silly!" I immediately said, "Field trip!"
We drove to a shop in a nearby town that had a simulated mountain. The kids were able to feel the long skis that fit onto snow boots, put them on, and actually ride up in a gondola and ski down a simulated mountain. After a couple of lessons, the instructor was a bit depressed because my students would probably never get to go snow skiing. So I thought, Why not?
So we started raising money. I didn't want my students to think, I'm blind, so people pay for me to go on trips. That's the philosophy that leads to adults believing they don't need to work, they can just get a check because they are blind. None of us wants that for our students! So we started to raise money. We sold sterling Braille jewelry; we had garage sales; we worked bingo games with a local charity; we sold pickles at recess. You'd be surprised how much an elementary student will pay for a pickle!
We went snow skiing in Aspen, and when we returned I started a Louisiana Blind Outdoor Leisure Development (BOLD). We went camping, fishing, and hiking. We went to Disney World and enjoyed breakfast with Mickey and rode every ride there, I think. We went to SeaWorld, where we had a behind-the-scenes tour. We touched dolphins and fed baby manatees. We thought the manatees felt just like baked potatoes. Just like a baked potato, their rough skin would make an indentation when you pressed it.
National Federation of the Blind, thank you, not only for this award, but also for teaching me how to be a good teacher. When I first started teaching, I'd call Joanne Wilson, Don Banning, and Warren Figueiro. Now I call Pam Allen and Eric Guillory. I wanted to learn from blind people who are working, contributing to their communities and churches, and living the lives they want. So I humbly share this award with each and every one of you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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